Washington, March 19 - The Obama administration Monday rejected accusations of any US involvement in a plot to assassinate a Venezuelan opposition leader.

"Let me say it here extremely clearly, looking right at you, the United States categorically rejects allegations of any U. S. government involvement in any plot to destabilise the Venezuelan government or to harm anyone in Venezuela," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said at a regular press briefing.

Washington, Feb 13 : North Korea had informed the US that it planned to conduct a nuclear test prior to its underground detonation of an atomic device Tuesday, a US State Department spokeswoman said.

The North Korean government "did inform us at the State Department of their intention to conduct a nuclear test, without citing any specific timing prior to the event", spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told a news briefing Tuesday.

Washington, Jan 17 - The United States has said it favours a dialogue between India and Pakistan as the "right way" to resolve tensions over the killing of two Indian soldiers along the Line of Control in Kashmir.

"We favour dialogue between India and Pakistan on this issue in any and all channels that both governments consider appropriate," State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland told reporters Wednesday in response to a question.

Washington, Jan 11 - Amid rising tensions between India and Pakistan along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir, the US reiterated its support for their continued high-level dialogue and urged them to work through the issues and end the violence.

Again voicing Washington's "concerns about this violence along the Line of Control", State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland told reporters Thursday: "We've made representations to both governments urging them to work together to determine the best course of action."

Washington, Jan 10 - The US has asked India and Pakistan to cool down tensions over the killing of two Indian soldiers along the Line of Control in (LoC) Jammu and Kashmir and talk to each other to improve relations.

"We're urging both sides to take steps to end the violence. We continue to strongly support any efforts to improve relations between the two countries," State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland told reporters Wednesday.

"We've also discussed these latest incidents with both governments, urged them to talk to each other, and urged calm," she said in response to a question about the incident.

Washington, Jan 10 - The US will continue its cooperation with Russia despite differences on a number of issues, such as the Russian adoption ban, Victoria Nuland, spokesperson for the US Department of State, has said.

"Our overall approach remains to try to cooperate with Russia as much as we can on as many issues as we can that we share, whether they are bilateral issues, whether they are regional issues like Nagorno-Karabakh, or whether they are global issues like Iran, Afghanistan, Syria, et cetera," Nuland said Wednesday.

Washington, Dec. 3 : The US State Department has said that the country''s ties with Pakistan are now on firm grounds.

"The pace of interaction is much more back to normal now and puts the (Pak-US) relationship on this firmer footing we''ve both sought," The Dawn quoted State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland, as saying.

Nuland added that since July this year, the US and Pakistan have been working regularly on improving their strained ties.

She said both sides were looking at possibilities "to encourage increased investment and to open markets".

Nuland noted that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had met President Asif Ali Zardari and Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar during the UN General Assembly in September.

Washington, Nov 10 : The US has no immediate plans to change its aid pattern to India following the British example even as it tries in general to move from aid to trade, according to a senior US official.

"We're constantly, particularly in tough budget times, looking at ensuring that our assistance dollars are spent as well as we possibly can," State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland told reporters Friday when asked about British plans to halt all its aid to India from 2015.

Washington, Oct 13 - The US State Department has accused Russia of having a "morally bankrupt" policy over Syria.

The US reaction came two days after Turkey intercepted a Syrian passenger jet headed from Moscow to Damascus over suspicions it had military equipment on board.

"No responsible country ought to be aiding and abetting the war machine of the Assad regime and particularly those with responsibilities for global peace and security as UN Security Council members have," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters.

Washington, Oct 10 : The United States has condemned a Taliban attack on Pakistani teenage children''s rights activist Malala Yousafzai, calling it "barbaric" and "cowardly".

"We strongly condemn the shooting of Malala. Directing violence at children is barbaric, it''s cowardly, and our hearts go out to her and the others who were wounded, as well as their families," the Daily Times quoted State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland, as saying.

"Well, certainly, rather than bragging about its missile capability they ought to be feeding their own people, would be our first comment," said US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland at a regular press briefing.

"The DPRK (North Korea) needs to understand that it will achieve nothing by threats or provocations. That's only gonna undermine their efforts to get back into conversation with the international community," said Nuland.

Washington, Oct 3 : The US does not plan to use military force in Syria, US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

Asked by reporters what the department's reaction would be to Russia having "warned the West from intervening in Syria or creating a buffer zone or no-fly zone", Nuland said: "I think we've made clear what we're looking at in terms of US support for the opposition."

"We're talking about non-lethal support. We're talking about training. We're talking about trying to help those in Syria who are trying to manage and provide for people in parts of Syria that have now been liberated from regime dominance," she said.

New York, Sept 20 : U. S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland, has clarified that the closed-door signing ceremony between Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her Mexican counterpart was explicitly `not about a joint military operation against Canada.'

According to New York Daily News, Nuland was asked why a signing ceremony with Clinton and Mexico Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa was not open to the press. "This isn't some secret thing to invade Canada or something like that?" a reporter asked.